Pass-Sporting: Tip #13 - “It’s More Than Just A Game”

I’m not going to lie. This is going to get kind of serious for a second. My bad. Just work with me here.

The one thing that you may not hear or are told is that you can offer more than just your athletic ability. Let’s be real, playing in Europe isn’t the most lucrative profession You can honestly make more money hustling bootleg DVD’s and DJ Drama mixtapes out the trunk of your car. This is why it’s best to leverage your other skills to add to your professional resume while playing.

If you have other ambitions of working in finance, announcing, directing, graphic design, marketing, sales, WHATEVER, there are opportunities to do this within every organization because these are things that are necessary to run a team. If they don’t have it, create it. Most teams would actually appreciate it and need the help. It may be tough to get people motivated but if you initiate it and if you are persistent they will follow.

"If you think the team should be making promotional videos and you have an interest in filming then start doing it.

ALL Teams always need to find ways to increase fans and ticket sales. Fresh ideas are always welcomed on how to reach out to more people and develop fans. If you have a degree in finance and want to help the team with budgeting tell them that you want to take part in the meetings and get an understanding of how it goes so that you can help with the budgeting. Real talk, at the end of the season on your resume what sounds better? That you played LB in Italy or that you played LB and as work experience “Created and Implemented Marketing Strategies in Foreign Markets” or “Worked in Finance Department of Professional Sports Club The Sicily Chianti Drinkers” (I dunno I’m just making random names up. You get the point).

Most clubs are understaffed management wise and it’s usually only a handful of people wearing multiple hats.

I know this one wasn’t exactly how not to be a terrible import but this is the basis of how to contribute to a team but ultimately helping yourself. I mean if a team could they would pay the least amount of dollars to get the best players and win a championship and say peace. But what I’m laying out is a way for you to allow yourself to get the max value out of your time where both parties feel like they’ve won.

Now I know half of the cats reading this are like “I’m not doing that shit unless they pay me extra”. You can look at it like that or realize that putting in a little extra effort will set you up when your done or raise your value for the next club that you go to because you have worth on and off the field. When I applied to work with NFL International the first thing I referenced the was youth work I did while was out here which got my foot in door. I didn’t get paid extra when I was with the teams for it, but it definitely paid off in the long run. Remember this thing is more than just a game. It can lead to bigger and better things if you allow it to be.

Aight I’m done for now with the lecture. I’ll be back next week with more tips. Well…. actual tips and less of this preachy kind of stuff. Hope you’ve been enlightened and entertained.

Special shout out to Nick Danielson. Maybe I’ll get into the wig-snatching story at some point. I’ll try to squeeze it in if it has any educational value. Which it absolutely doesn’t.